A landmark ruling on sexual orientation and employment discrimination

Almost lost in the cascade of big news in the past few weeks (SCOTUS decisions on Obamacare and marriage eqality, the Charleston church shooting, the Confederate flag debate, the Greek financial crisis, the Iran nuclear deal . . . and more) was another, little-noticed, landmark decision by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

After decades of Congress refusing to pass ENDA (Employment Non-Discrimination Act), the EEOC has simply ruled that already existing civil rights laws bar discrimination based on sexual orientation.   True, it will only apply to federal jobs and companies with federal contracts -- but this is often the route to bringing about widespread change in the private sector.

The EEOC's reasoning is this:  Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 already protects workers from discrimination based on sex (male/female).  They reasoned that “sexual orientation is inherently a ‘sex-based consideration'."  Therefore, any discrimination based on sexual orientation is included in the protection based on sex.

This may be tested in court, and only the federal courts can issue a definitive ruling that codifies this decision.  But, in the absence of congressional action, the courts have usually "gone where the principles of Title VII have directed."    Activists for ENDA are predicting that, given the current congress we have, SCOTUS will probably decide this before the  House Republicans will even allow a vote on a comprehensive LGBT non-discrimination bill.

Ralph